Jan. 13, 2009
DENVER, Colo. – It was announced by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame that Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo./Littleton HS) has been named Colorado’s 2008 high school Female Athlete of the Year. Huffer was chosen from a field of over 48,000 athletes. She will be presented with the award on April 14 at the 2009 Colorado Sports Hall of Fame awards banquet.
Joining Huffer as 2008 Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Athlete of the Year honorees are Beijing Olympic gold medalists Carmelo Anthony (men’s basketball) and Henry Cejudo (freestyle wrestling), NCAA Champions Jenny Barringer (track/Colorado University) and John Buchar (skiing/Denver University), as well as Parker Orms, who helped Wheat Ridge to a Class 4A football state title to garner high school Male Athlete of the Year accolades.
Huffer put together an impressive 2008 on the interscholastic, amateur and collegiate levels that included winning a state championship and making her Irish debut. Most recently, she earned the Colorado Women’s Golf Association’s Player of the Year award. For winning the 2008 CWGA Player of the Year award, Huffer was honored at the 2008 Colorado Golf Awards Brunch on November 23 at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Club.
Before making her way to Notre Dame, Huffer’s success in the 2008 calendar year began at the interscholastic level. She shot a five-under par 139 to win the Colorado State Championship by a record 13 strokes. She also won the Colorado Public Links Qualifier by three shots, carding a 73. In the 2008 Colorado Women’s Open, Huffer was the low amateur, and finished second overall, with a 221 (75-71-74).
The Rocky Mountain News honored Huffer as its All-Colorado player of the year in 2006. She was also a three-time All-Colorado selection by the newspaper. In 2003, she became the youngest individual to qualify for the USGA Girls’ Junior Championship. During the 2005 playing season, Huffer captured the CWGA Women’s Match Play Championship and the CWGA Junior Stroke Play Championship.
In her first half-season of play with the Irish, Huffer appeared in all five of Notre Dame’s fall events and recorded the second-best stroke average on the team with a 75.07 mark. Thirteen of her 15 rounds played for the Irish counted towards Notre Dame’s team scores. Her 13 scored rounds tied for the second-most rounds counted on the team.
Huffer fished among the top-15 in three of the five events, placing 10th at the Mary Fossum Invitational, ninth at the Lady Northern Invitational and 12th at the Landfall Tradition. Only sophomore So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea) bettered Huffer’s mark of three top-15 finishes, as the All-American had four.
At the Mary Fossum Invitational, Huffer fired a 71 in the third round, her first under-par round at the collegiate level. Throughout the fall, Huffer excelled in final round play, carding a 73.40 stroke average in third round play, more than a full stroke better than the next closest Irish golfer.
Huffer returned to her native state when Notre Dame took part in the Heather Farr Memorial tournament, which was played at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club in Broomfield, Colorado. At the two-day event, Huffer helped the Irish to a first place finish. In the second round, she shot a plus-two 74, which helped comprise the lowest team score in program history, a minus-7 281.
Huffer and her Irish teammates will begin the spring portion of their schedule at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, hosted by Ohio State University. The tournament will be played at the Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes, California on February 9-11.
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